The Avatar Chronicals: Avatar Roku
by Sunny Rabbiera
Summary: The past of Avatar Roku has been shouded in mystery... until now.Learn about Avatar Roku's journey to learn the elements and eventually face off against his destiny...


The Avatar Chronicles: Avatar Roku

Based on "Avatar the last Airbender" created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko

Authors note:

Fan fiction (Fan-fic-shun) _noun_

Definition: a fictional account written by a fan of a show, movie, book, or video game to explore themes and ideas that will not or cannot be explored via the originating medium; also called a fanfic.

In other words: this story is not to be considered official material; this is a story is based on the amazing Nick series Avatar the last Airbender and is my own version on how I think Avatar Roku's life was like.

Now note I will have quite a lot of my own characters here, but none of them are truly "fan characters"

they are more or less "secondary characters" I put in to make up for the lack of information we have of Roku's past.

We have no information on who his master was, what his parents were named or any of that stuff.

At best this should really be considered an alternate universe though I will follow the groundwork of this series as accurately as possible, I will also update this fic whenever new information is given but since Book 3 fire is a long way off it seems well might as well eat up the time somehow.

Any suggestions you can give me are welcome though I don't want any of that "u suk" stuff...

Anyway, all characters are copyright to Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Prelude:

Water, Earth, Fire and Air...

Long ago, there was a time of balance, a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance over the four nations. Before the war, before the chaos and destruction, before the birth of Aang the current avatar was the reign of Avatar Roku.

Roku was a very powerful Avatar; he had lived for nearly 70 years before he met his fate.

During his time, Avatar Roku had a lot of struggle keeping the balance between the four nations as hostility was rising in his homeland of the Fire Nation. Firelord Sozen was starting his plans for a war, and Roku knew this was not good, as he knew he was getting old and his powers were diminishing.

This is his story, about how he learned he was the Avatar, how he traveled the world and how he sacrificed himself to stop his once best friend from leveling the planet...

Book one: Discovery

Chapter one: The child of fire

A furious rain came down from the sky beating down on the cold gray land; the drops drizzled down upon the outer rim village of Fang Se. It was a farming village dotted by small cottages and fields, and it was one of the few fertile grounds found in the Firenation in this period of despair.

That is why four warriors saddled on rhino's came here, that's why they traveled all this way for.

Dressed in the imperial robes of the Firelord's royal procession they came here with a single mission in mind.

The rhino's stopped their march as the lead rider halted his steed; he came off the rhino and tied it up to a large pole nearby. The other riders followed his lead and they all marched forward on foot, to a small cottage that was near the ridge of the ocean. Shelter was no interest to them, being the elite members of the Firelord's entourage gave them training for such weather.

The royal cloth covered their entire bodies, it was red upon red upon red and it would have made someone dizzy if they looked at the robes the wrong way. Their heads were wrapped completely by cloth, only their small eyes could be seen though the seemingly endless robes they wore.

They came up to the front door of their goal and began to knock upon the door of their goal.

The leader knocked at least three times before someone answered the door, and a look of fear came across that face as the person who owned it looked upon the figures before it.

"Are you Long Fei Han?" asked the leader

The man at the door nodded and said, "Yes that is me, are you here to collect the tax? Look I am sorry I have not been steady with my payments but..."

The man was then interrupted by laughter by the leader, he then put out a friendly gesture as he said "relax my friend I am not here to collect the taxes, I am here on a mission of observation."

The leader took off the cloth on his head revealing a near middle-aged man with a slightly weathered but friendly face. His head was surrounded by a small golden band indicating that he was a minister of the Firelord but his demeanor was anything but.

"Please forgive me my friend, I did not mean to frighten you. I may be a man of procedure but I do know that sometimes procedure is not the best way to go."

The leader then sat down as he said "you two relax I can handle this." the two others nodded and sat down as well.

"Take off your robes you two, you are making our friend here nervous" said the leader

One of the others turned to him and said "but it's not in the procedure."

"Oh forget about that for now, we are not here for interrogation. I swear you two act too stuck up sometimes."

"With all due respect my lord we rather stay in our robes," said the other officer that the leader brought in with him.

"Very well then" said the leader, he then gave Long Fei Han another smile and said, "I am Minister Lao, of the Firelord's royal procession."  
"I thought I knew your uniform," said Han "so what brings you here Minister Lao?"

"A message" said Lao

"A message, what kind of message might I ask?"

"Well there are reports about your son, about how he is vastly skilled in the art of Firebending. About how he knows a lot of moves that are hard to master"

Han seemed to be put aback by that "yes he is a very good Firebender, but the thing is that neither I nor my wife is a Firebender. We are simple farmers and we have no knowledge of the bending arts."

"Yes and that is what brings me here, tell me how old is your son?"

"He is about eight right now, he is very strong for his age if I do say so myself."

Lao nodded "what is the name of the boy?"

"His name is Roku; I named him after my grandfather."

"An excellent name" said Lao with a smile "it is a very strong and noble sounding."

"I am flattered to hear you say that Minister" said Han with a small smile

"Please not so formal, call me Lao okay?"

"Sorry Minister, but I am not able to do that. I am a mere commoner and you are a minister of the Firelord... it would be disrespectful."

Lao gave a loud laugh "oh don't worry about me, besides when I was your age I was a Farmer too. I only became a minister because I was also serving as secretary to the late Minister Tsong; he liked my work so much that he granted me the rank of Minister in approval of the Firelord. But beneath my Ministry cloth, I am the same as you. Just relax, these others might be high ranking nobles but I myself am far from it."

"Then I can be more comfortable with you then."

"Certainly" said Lao with a large smile "but I only have one request of you."

"And what would that be?" asked Han

"Can you make me some ginseng tea? I have traveled far and I need some refreshment and you see ginseng is my favorite."

"I am sure I can arrange that for you" said Han as he walked to the back, Lao then laid backward in his chair as he gave out a loud yawn. He looked up at the ceiling and sat for a few minutes; soon Han came in and gave Lao a small cup of tea.

Lao sniffed it and then drank, he then smiled and said "this is good tea you have made, hey you two you should drink some of this. Come on you have my permission to enjoy yourselves."

"You are not going to lay off on us aren't you Minister?" said one

"You are just going to keep at it as usual; it was like this when we went to see Lord Kyu in the Earth kingdom village of Han Tui."

"I would not have it any other way," said Lao with another smile.

The pair sighed and finally took off their robes revealing a pair of young faces that belonged to two nobles.

Lao grew happy and said, "Han meet nobleman Kano and nobleman Feui, they are members of the Firelord's circular council but off duty from that they are members of the precession. They take their duties too seriously though and sometimes I get annoyed by that when we are on a peaceful accord like this. I tell you noblemen can be so uptight sometimes."

"We only do our duty," said the nobleman that Lao referred to as Kano

"And you should do your duty, but please you have to take some time to relax. We are not in the presence of the Firelord or someone from the other elemental houses, this man is a villager he is a man of purity."

"A man of purity, surely you can't mean me.," said Han

"I mean it; villagers like you are people of purity to me. Not one bit of falsehood like a politician" said Lao with a smile

"So when do we meet this boy anyway?" asked Feui impatiently

Lao laughed, "Soon, Feui you are always impatient. Why can't you be more like Kano?"

"Because he is the younger of us," said Kano

"This is true, anyhow today is not the day to meet the boy so we shall do it tomorrow It is just too rainy and far too late at night for it. Do you have anywhere we can rest Han?"

"You can stay in my barn for tonight, I know it is not the most suitable place but..."  
"A barn will be fine," said Lao with a smile he then gave a nod and said "come along you two"

"Do we really have to sleep in a barn though?" said Feui

Lao laughed once more "oh come on where is your adventure? I am sure it will suit us well."

Lao got up and took his companions in tow "see you in the morning," he said as he took his companions outside and towards a large barn just outside of the cottage.

Lao opened it and stepped inside, the stench of a countryside barn filled the noses of Lao and his companions and both Feui and Kano stood back in wrench.

"The stench, it is ghastly," said Feui

"And this place is run down." said Kang

"Complaints, complaints." said Lao humorously "it's no worse then when we were in that barn near Fong Li hall."  
"Yes but that place had better ventilation," said Kang

"Shouldn't we get Han to fix this place up for us?" asked Feui

"Come on we can manage, I am already plotting a place for us to rest." Lao looked around and saw a spot nearby that looked suitable.

"Over there in the corner looks like a good spot" said Lao "come on my friends lets relax over there."

The three then came to a rest in a corner of the barn and then slept for the rest of that night.

The next morning came and sunlight shown though the cracks of the door, Minister Lao blinked as he gave a large smile.

"The sunlight, it is so beautiful out here on the outer rim." he said, "I have spent too long going to the royal houses in the central empire."

Next to him his companions Kang and Feui awoke as a knock came at the front door of the barn, Lao came up to the door and saw a woman bowing down with a tray holding three plates of food in front of her.

"Hello Minister I am Long Fei Sen your humble servant."

"Are you the wife of Han?" asked Lao

"Yes minister, your wish is my command."

Lao smiled and said "well you can get up; I am no one really just a simple Minister."

"But I know you worked close with the Firelord"

"True but here I am just an overseer, please let me look at you."

The woman got up and Lao saw her face, she has a wonderful oval shaped face decorated by two amber eyes.

Lao smiled "your eyes, they are like those of the noble line."

"Thank you Minister but I am no noble, I come from the inner empire yes but I have not lived there in some time."

"So where in the inner empire do you come from?"

"I come from Dai Kao, the inner province near the capitol."

"I am very familiar with that area; tell me do you have bender blood in you?"

"I don't know, I was an orphan and I was raised by the Wong Hu family from this area."

Lao nodded "well in any case I want to see your son as soon as possible, let him eat as I need to eat too and we can get down to business."

"As you say Minister" said Sen as she walked away from the barn, Lao brought the food into the barn and gave the plates to his companions.

"Chow down everyone we got a busy day ahead of us," said Lao as he started to eat, the others followed and soon they finished their meals.

An hour passed and soon another knock came at the door

Lao opened the door and there stood Sen with a very handsome looking boy at her side

"Minister this is my son Roku"

The boy looked up at Lao very shyly as Lao gave a smile

"Hello there little one, I am not here to hurt you. I am Lao Minister of the Firelord."

Roku took a bow and said, "I am much honored to meet you"

"Same here young one" said Lao "do not worry there is no need to be so formal with me, at least not yet. But let's go out into the open and let me see your skills."

"As you wish my lord," said Roku

They all came outside and then Roku began his act.

It was nothing like what Lao had seen before; the boy's Firebending was as accurate as an imperial troop and as ferocious as the Firelord's own skills.

Roku had seemed to know all the basic sparring moves but he also knew stuff that even Lao had trouble with like the dragon sword.

Roku was a marvel, a prodigy and Lao recognized this right away.

After a few minutes, Lao said "stop" and Roku halted his bending display

"That was incredible," said Lao "you are a real marvel my boy."

"You think so?" asked Roku "thank you!"

"You are most welcome young one," said Lao as he pulled out three small pouches from his long scarlet robe, he unraveled them and small toys were inside them

"Now young Roku as a reward for your excellent skill you can choose any set of toys you see here, but be cautious you can only play with one set."

Roku looked the toys over and then he pointed over to the leftmost set, there sat four toys that came to Roku's interest. On the left of the roll out pouch was a little toy turtle, Second from the left was a propeller toy, Third from the left was a little monkey and the fourth was a rattle with yellow and red swirls on its face.

"I like this set" said Roku as he walked over to the leftmost roll out pouch and started to play with the toys

"Just as I expected him too" thought Lao "it's as I thought he is the one."

Lao gave Roku a large smile and said "listen Roku I have to go away for a bit but I am leaving you in the care of my two companions. Don't worry they might act stuck up but they are good people, I shall be back in about three days or so, maybe longer."

"Okay Minister Lao" said Roku

"Good boy" said Lao "you two know what to do, treat him well and just relax until I get back."

"I guess we have no choice now that we know he is..."

"Don't tell him yet" said Lao "he is not old enough"

"Tell me what?" asked Roku

"Oh you must have some good ears young Roku" said Lao with a smile "but don't concern yourself just yet, I know you are curious but some things are better told with age"

"I understand," said Roku

"I knew you would," said Lao "you are a bright boy I can tell. Anyhow see you all later I must be off."

Lao then came to his rhino and put his royal outfit back on, he then rode off to the imperial core of the Firenation where he knew his masters the Firelord and the Fire prince was waiting for him...

It took Lao four days to reach the imperial capital; Lao looked up at the so-called "golden isle" with both relief and dread. The imperial palace glittered like gold even at night, the sheer presence of royalty and power radiated all the way down to the imperial city below and to the outlaying suburbs nearby.

The last few days were torture for Lao, the mountain pass had a landslide and he had to take a path around the great gate of the imperial cities. He really hated going that route; both mountains and gates surrounded the central imperial territories. The walls around the imperial lands were nearly as big as those in Ba Sing Se though nowhere near as massive.

Lao approached the imperial palace's doors opened as Lao passed though; he then got off his rhino as two imperial soldiers took his rhino in tow. Lao then walked inside the palace and to the main imperial chamber. Lao readied himself as he approached the Fire prince Kozon who stood before his father Firelord Ozin.

The great hall of the Firelord glowed with intensity as Lao approached his masters with his report.

On one side sat a young man in his twenties, his hair topped by the royal flame crown of a Fire prince.

This was Lao's direct controller, Fire prince Kozon.

Behind him sat Firelord Ozin, who observed them though the flames of the golden throne.

Ozin was getting up in his years, already at 50 years of age, Ozin was the head of the imperial state but during this troubled time, his throne was always being questioned.

Lao gave a bow and took a big gulp as he started his report "My lords I have a report from the outer rim villages" he said a bit nervously "he is here my lord, the Avatar is here."

Ozin laced his fingers together "is that so Minister Lao?"

"Yes his name is Long Fei Roku, the son of farmers. He was the one that all the reports talked about, he has a lot of strength inside of him and I think he has a good future ahead of him."

Kozon looked down at Lao with a severe look "so how old is this child?"

"He is nine right now my lord, we found him in the outer rim village of Fang Se."

"And he is not of noble line then?" asked Ozin

"no my lord, of course you know that it is rare that an Avatar is born into the royal line... the last Firenation born Avatar that was a member of the royal line was your great, great, great..."

"We get the point Minister Lao" Kozon sighed "then my plans will be complicated... I was hoping that my wife would bring the avatar back into the royal line during this time of crisis. But at this time, my wife is still very ill and cannot bear children, and with me not being a bender and the sole heir to the throne, everyone is looking to the royal family for the failure of the economy. They see me as a failure to the royal line and the nation is dangerously close to a civil war..."

Lao gave out a small sigh "Well it's not like we can predict the Avatar cycle my lord, sure we know what nation the avatar will be born in and we know who it is after a test but..."

Ozin sank into his chair "Well do you think that this Roku child would be willing to come here to the fire halls and become a member of the royal line?"

"I guess so my lord, but it goes against my better judgment."

Without warning Kozon grew furious "you don't know what is at stake for me and my family Lao! This nation is in a deep depression right now, I said before there were reports of a civil war and there are talks about rebellion and our reputations are at stake! Already Lord Kyushu is raising those in the military against the royal core, no fighting has started but it might now with this news...

I was hoping that my kin would be the avatar but now you tell me it is some farm boy peasant who is the Avatar?"

"Kozon control yourself!" cried Ozin

"I am sorry father, but I know you too are under pressures as well"

"Yes I am but we cannot act like this in this time of crisis," said Ozin

Kozon gave a nod and said "I am sorry once again father, anyhow Minister Lao how soon can you bring the boy?"

"Well with all due respect my lord I don't feel you are in your better judgment, I cannot control who is the avatar and who is not. This is not a matter of position or political power, the Avatar is here..."

"To keep the balance, yes I know Minister Lao you don't have to give me a history lesson!"

"My apologies my lord, look give me some time and I can arrange a meeting with the child. In the meantime I am going back to the outer villages to retrieve him"

"Very well, but make note that you are no longer a minister. I am going to demote you to Master where you will be the child's monitor and my eyes and ears, and take note Master Lao if you fail me again I will punish you severely!"

"Yes my Prince," said former minister Lao.

Lao then left the great halls of the Firelord and off to the outer villages with an angry feeling in the pit of his stomach, he looked behind him and ahead again as he set off.

Kozon began to control himself as he said, "I apologize once again father for my outburst"

Ozin looked down at his son "It is understandable, even I am feeling under severe pressure right now. Just relax for tonight and hope that things get better"

Kozon nodded and walked back to his room, little did he know in a few years time he would bear a son named Sozin who would one day plunge the world into a hundred year war because of his actions on this day...

Another few days passed and Lao returned to the outer rim village of Fang Se, he no longer had the robes of the royal precession and was dressed in the robes of a Firenation sage.

Lao felt saddened by his demotion but he new he had to move on, he got back to the Long Fei family cottage and came in.

Han gave Lao a smile at first but then looked down on his body

"Minister Lao is everything alright?" he asked

"Its nothing" said Lao "I am fine I just have been appointed to be Roku's master."

"Oh that's good, Roku's in the back playing with Kano and Feui."

Lao gave a smile "and how have they treated him?"

"They treated him well; they seemed to relax a bit while you were gone."

"Very good" said Lao, he then made his way to the back and outside to where Roku was playing a game with his companions.

Lao found Kano hiding behind a large barrel where he said, "How are things going Kano"

"Oh Minister Lao I am playing a game of hide and go seek with young Roku, please keep quiet that child has the ears of a wolf bat"

Lao smiled and then they heard a loud "I found you!"

Lao turned around and saw Roku behind them

"Minister Lao I am glad you are back!" said Roku with glee

"Yes, well where in the world is Feui?"

"I have not found him yet, would you help me Minister?"

"Certainly" said Lao with a grin "come along Kano"

Kano nodded and they searched for Feui, soon they found him behind a large tree near the edge of the farm.

"That was fun!" cried Roku "want to play again?"

"In a bit" said Lao "I have to talk to Kano and Feui first okay?"

Roku nodded and then ran off for a bit

Kano and Feui looked Lao over and it was Kano who spoke first.

"You spoke to the Firelord didn't you?"

Lao nodded "yes, and I am no longer a Minister. Prince Kozon demoted me and made me Roku's master."

"We are sorry to hear that," said Feui "you might have been annoying sometimes but we respected you deeply. We still consider you our friend and our leader."

"Thank you my friends, it means a lot to Me.," said Lao

"Well come on Master Lao, I bet the Firelord and his son would like to meet our young Avatar."

Lao nodded and then came to find Roku, they found him nearby playing with a meadow vole and they asked him to come along.

Roku then followed the trio back into the house where Lao told Roku's parents about the Firelord's request; the both of them looked at Lao in wonder as Han asked the question

"Why do the Firelord and the prince have an interest in our son?"

"Your son has powers that are incredible; and prince Kozon wants to adopt him for the royal house. He has no heirs yet and he wants to look good for the empire."

"Does this have anything to do with the depression?"

Lao nodded "yes, look the Firenation needs someone to look up to and your son is a good choice. He will bring faith back to the royal line and pull us out of this terrible depression."

"Are you sure our son can handle it?" asked Sen

"Well what do you think young Roku?" asked Lao

"I don't know, I guess I can do all that. But I don't understand why all this attention is pointed at me, I am no one special."

"Now don't say that young Roku, you are very special and you will see why you are so important soon enough."

Roku gave a small nod, a few minutes later Roku found himself in the back of Lao's rhino as they all set off for the capitol and into destiny...

Once again, Lao found himself in the Firelord's hall, but this time with the boy, he set out to the outer villages to find.

Prince Kozon and Firelord Ozin looked at Roku with a severe look as Roku bowed before him

"So you are the boy my former minister had set out for then," said Kozon

"Yes my prince," said Roku

"Has he told you the reason why you are here?" asked Kozon

"I am here to bring hope back to the royal line. At least that is what Master Lao has told me."

"He was wise to inform you young Roku, you have a huge responsibility set ahead of you and I want you to be prepared," said Kozon

"I will do my best my lord, Master Lao has said you are under a lot of pressure and I hope to relieve some of your pressure."

"That is very considerate of you young one, now are you willing to become a figurehead for the royal line then? That means you would have treatment like you were officially apart of the royal line if you make up your mind"

Roku then grew nervous and said, "I guess so"

Prince Kozon nodded "good, now Master Lao, Minister Kang and Minister Feui please be off I want some time alone with young Roku."

The three nodded and walked out of the imperial chamber

Kozon then approached the young Roku who was still bowing

"You may get up my friend, I have much to discuss with you."

Roku slowly got up and Kozon grabbed his shoulder and said, "Come on young one I will take you to the inner chambers and to your new room."

Roku gave a nod and followed his new father to his new room; Kozon took Roku to the royal chambers and into a large room with a large window to the side

"This is your room young Roku, here you will be until your training begins."

Roku grew curious "training?"

"Yes, first is your coronation and then your training as a bender."

"But something inside of me tells me this is wrong" started Roku "I don't feel I should be a figurehead"

"Perhaps but you will be until I have a son, you are our way of keeping this nation from falling into civil war."

"As Lao said, but why did you demote him from minister to master?"

Kozon looked surprised "oh, you know about that?"

"Yes I overheard Lao speak of it, I have a sense about things that no one else seems to have." said Roku

"I believe it" started Kozon "well anyway in three days comes your induction ceremony and then your induction"

Roku gave a nod and then sat in the bed nearby as Kozon left the room, Roku then laid down but for some reason did not get one second of sleep that night...

The next day came and in the center of the Firenations nerve center the many nobles and politicians of the Firenation united to see the false coronation of Roku, Roku knew full well that he was just going to hold this title under false information...

This ceremony was wrong but it would prove good in keeping the Firenation from diving into a civil war, but this was just a title and Roku knew that once Kozon had a real son he would be just a farmer's boy again.

Unknown to him Roku carried the spirit of the Avatar, the unifier of peoples.

This was his first test in that job though he did not know it yet, he would have to carry the hopes of a nation long before he was ready to but this was the card he was dealt.

Kozon came in front of him and said, "March forward young Roku"

Roku nodded and marched on ahead as Firelord Ozin waited for him Roku then bowed down before Ozin as he said, "young Roku, I will now induct you into our family. You will carry the hopes of this nation as fate sees fit, you have a large responsibility in front of you young one but I know you can do it."

Roku then rose as the people cheered, then he heard the sound of knocking as he awoke from his dream...

Roku was now back in the real world of the present, all in his dream had actually happened though he felt haziness about it.

This is what it was like for him anymore, he would have long dreams that seemed like memories... and they were memories.

But Roku could not cut through the clouds yet and before he could, another knock came at his door.

He then got up out of his bed and said, "Who is it?"

"It is Master Lao" came the voice from the other end

"Oh Master Lao, can you give me a few minutes I need to get dressed" said Roku as he stretched his arms out.

"Very well pupil Roku, but there is a matter of great importance you must know."

"Well can't it wait until I am dressed?" Roku complained

"Typical teenager even if he is the Avatar" Lao sighed as he stood outside of Roku's room

"What was that you said Master Lao?" asked Roku slightly overhearing what Lao said

"Oh nevermind" said Lao "just come out when you are ready"

Roku gave a nod as he dressed himself.

Roku did not know what his master met by "a matter of great importance", to Roku he was just a farmers boy who was put on the royal line for reasons he did not know.

By now, he was at a temple in the great mountains of the Firenation, being trained over the course of eleven years. For those years he was here, they trained him, and oversaw his progress.

It was incredible, Roku learned all the great stances of Firebending by the age of twelve and by all respects was a master at such a young age.

But they knew for sometime before that, that he was the Avatar when they gave him the Avatar relics, and today was the day he would discover his ultimate fate.

Roku came out of his room and met Master Lao who patiently waited for him.

"Hello Master Lao, are you doing well today?"

"I am just fine Roku; please follow me to the inner sanctum"

Roku nodded and the two walked off to the inner sanctum of the temple.

Roku arrived and then knelt down before the four great sages; Master Lao sat down beside them as the head sage Master Kin addressed Roku.

"Pupil Roku we have gathered you here for a very simple yet important reason, tell us what do you know of the Avatar?"

Roku perked his head up "Uhh, err, the Avatar is the one who controls all the elements, the one who keeps balance between the four great nations. The last Avatar died more then 16 years ago or so and was an Earthbender, I know that and the next Avatar is supposed to be born into this nation. But how does that relate to me?"

"Pupil Roku do you feel different from other people, like an outsider and yet you feel a strong connection to the world around you?"

"Yes I do, but I don't know how that relates to the Avatar."

"Pupil Roku..." started Master Lao slowly "you are the Avatar."

Roku was taken aback "what? Are you serious?"

"Yes, we have known of you for some time and we are confident you are the one" started Master Shin another one of the Sages, he then threw out a small satchel to Roku and it folded out revealing several toys before him.

"Do you remember these objects?" asked Master Feng, yet another sage

"Yes, they are the toys I used to play with when I was little." said Roku as he looked the toys over

"Do you know why you picked these objects out of all the others?"

"I don't know, I just remember them being real fun when I was little"

"You picked them out because they belonged to you once in another lifetime; these are the sacred Avatar relics"

Roku picked up one of the toys, a rattle with yellow and red swirls on it.

"So you are saying that these used to be mine once in the past... wow this is really weird."

"We know you are shocked and surprised Pupil Roku, but you are the one. You will soon travel across the world, learn all the bending arts and fulfill your destiny."

"Is that the main reason why I was inducted into the royal family though?"

The fire sages then stared him down as Master Lao said, "Yes, I am sorry you had to find out this way though."

"the reason the Firelord appointed you was because of the rumors of civil war, and that is the main reason why you are still technically in the royal family even though Prince Kozon had a son we don't know how much his potential is... that is why prince Sozin himself is coming along with you." said Master Kin

"Prince Sozen is coming along with me?" said Roku in surprise

"Yes, and you will train him a bit in the following months, we are confident you can teach him well Young Roku" said Master Feng

Roku nodded "thank you for your confidence, but when do I start on my mission?"

"You leave tomorrow on the Imperial Firenation Vessel Dragonfire."

"Sounds like fun," said Roku as he gave the sages a bow "do you wish anything else out of me?"

"No, actually just take the day off training so tomorrow you can be ready. We will keep you here until the time comes."

Roku nodded and then headed off to the training area, though now he knew now things would become very different for him.

The rest of that day passed slowly for Roku, his mind clouded with thoughts of him being the new avatar.

Roku had only a few hours to think on his newfound destiny as his doors opened, a blazing light filled the room as two imperial guards came before them and behind them looked to be a small child... totally covered in the red and gold outfit of a prince.

The royal gown totally covered his legs, the royal robe covered his arms and his face was covered in the ancient cloth of the imperial family.

Two golden eyes peered out at Roku in both anger and contempt, a voice then said

"So you are Avatar Roku, you are going to accompany me tomorrow to the other nations huh?"

"You are prince Sozin aren't you?" asked Roku

"You have a way of stating the obvious," said Sozin

Roku then took a bow and said, "My apologies my prince, my time in this place has made me very ignorant on current affairs."

"You are forgiven," said Sozin though his tone sounded of sarcasm

"Please my prince, show the avatar your courtesy," said Master Lao who had followed up after the young prince.

Sozen then sighed as he said "my apologies, I am getting a lot of pressure as of late now that my Grandfather is near death and that talks of civil war have come to the royal courts."  
"That is no excuse to be rude young Sozin," said Lao

"Again my apologies" said Sozen

He then took off his royal gowns and revealed a twelve year old boy, with long brown hair and fiery golden eyes that looked on at Roku in mixed contempt.

"You two must rest now, tomorrow you will leave for the lands of the air nomads."

The two then nodded as they took respective resting places in the room.

"I am sorry I don't have better rest places for you my prince," said Roku

"I will get by," said Sozen as he uneasily went off to rest, Roku rested too but neither had a well nights sleep.

The next day came and the Firenation ship sat in wait, Roku looked on at it and said, "Wow, Firenation ships are huge."  
"This is a royal ship" said Sozin who followed up after him "A top of the line though not as good as the ship my grandfather has."

"But its still very nice" said Roku "I have never seen a ship like this."  
"No, and you wont see one like this in the other nations... we in the Firenation have pride even in times of depression like this we have much better ships then of all the other nations."

"But I am sure you will come to like those other places though" said Roku

Sozin just looked on coldly as he walked onto the ship

Roku then looked behind him as the sun was shining down on his home temple; he looked at it for the last time as he then boarded the ship and onto his future...

End of Chapter one


End file.
